Boots and Hearts 2013

DURHAM -- With Jim Tobin a part of the Boots and Hearts Music Festival team this year and traffic issues hopefully addressed, Shannon McNevan says “we feel great as far as the on site goes” heading into the third event.

The third music festival runs July 31 to Aug. 3 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Clarington. It kicks off with The Reklaws performing on Thursday night and the music ends on Aug. 3 with Blake Shelton.

The kick-off a year ago was a nightmare for many motorists, who waited for hours to get into the venue. Many gave up, did a u-turn and went home. There were clogged roads all weekend as fans tried to access the park.

But this year should be different. Jim Tobin Productions is the Cadillac of festival and site management and has been enlisted to help make B and H run more smoothly.

Twenty-six booths in two areas, the new one on an adjacent property, will be open to keep the traffic moving, process festival goers and get them into the event.

Laura Kennedy, director of public relations, Republic Live, notes camping opens to the general public at 3 p.m. on July 30 “and all ticket holders have been advised that they will not be permitted to wait in line on the roads prior to that time. These areas will be patrolled by Durham Regional Police, and as such they will be instructed to move.” Asked to where, Kennedy said that’s up to the police. Bottom line, lining up early is being strongly discouraged.

For the four festival days, Kennedy says the booths “will be staffed at full capacity” from 8 a.m. to midnight (5 p.m. on Aug. 3).

Fans can get traffic updates via Twitter Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at twitter.com/BootsandHearts.

Just under 60,000 fans attended B and H in 2012 and 90,000 were at the Clarington event last year, McNevan says, noting a Thursday night was added last year.

If those sound like rough numbers, they are. As at any big festival, exact numbers are a closely guarded secret and McNevan says “we’re never going to release specific numbers.”

But it’s no secret that the festival is a success and McNevan says when talking to managers and agents “it makes a difference.”

He notes that the festival industry used to refer to Boots and Hearts as “that Canadian thing” but have become more specific, now calling it “that Bowmanville thing.

“That always makes me smile,” McNevan says.

He stresses the festival depends on the Town of Clarington, fire and other services and “we’ve been blessed with the cooperation as we’ve tried to grow this thing.”

And the fans and supporters of Boots and Hearts have been the biggest factor in its growth, he says, co-operative and full of advice.

“They’ve just taken such an active role,” he says. “A lot of changes we’ve made have been from listening to them.”

McNevan notes there were a lot of naysayers when the first festival was announced. There will be conflicts with performances at other venues, such as the Molson Amphitheatre, he was told. You’ll have to spend twice as much to have the stars leave the GTA, he was told.

“We just stubbornly believed we could do it,” he says.

“Our goal moving forward is just efficiency.”

Share your photos, thoughts on the performers and everything else Boots with us on Twitter at @newsdurham or use the hashtag #bootsandhearts.

Mike Ruta covers the arts and entertainment for the Metroland Media Group’s Durham Region Division. He can be reached at
MRuta@durhamregion.com
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